Under Her Wing

by Memz

5: The Walk

Author's Note:

Sorry I almost missed a day, I got caught up in a mess between personal life and thinking out how I wanted this and possibly the next chapter to go. I admit, I’m pretty sure I don’t work too well with mid-event fillers, which I imagine is what the majority of this chapter will end up being. At least I know how to write up an excuse in my AN before I write a chapter, I guess. As long as I try my best and get it done in the end you can’t fault me. That IS how it goes… right? So much for writing the AN before I actually write the chapter, I’ve gone and made it awkward now.

As I was escorted through the city of Canterlot by the unicorn know as Fresh Bandage, there were a few things I noticed everywhere I looked. First off, this species of equines, and all three of the subspecies, were extremely varied when it came to fur color. I think I even saw a pony with a bright shade of orange for their coat color, not unlike the safety vests that hunters would wear to avoid getting shot by someone else.

Second thing I noticed, was that all but the youngest of ponies had some kind of tattoo on their legs. Was it some kind of coming of age thing? Was it a sort of identification branding? Another question to ask someone. Or somepony, if I want to use the native puns. Actually, scratch that, I do NOT want to use the pun phrases, they sound stupid. I’ll stick to my bodies and ones, if you don’t mind.

Third, everything here seemed to be carved out of granite or marble, like an array of large, immaculate statues. Even the road was made up of some gigantic slab of marble, which should have been impossible, unless they found some kind of mountain that was practically entirely made of the stuff. Well, it could have been magically molded together without ruining the calcium patterns in it somehow, but I digress.

The last thing I noticed, and this was an issue exclusive to me, was that these creatures, intelligent and modernized as they seem and act, were living in an era of technology so far back that I would place it around the era of Greece. It looked to be closer to Athens, with them having the technological advantage back then, but compared to Twenty-First Century America, this city was extremely Spartan to me. At least there was no gigantic presidential campaign conflict going on here. Well, I hope there isn’t.

“Is something bothering you?” Fresh Bandage asked, pulling me out of my thoughts, “I know Quick Fix can be a little… hyperactive. Once you get to know her, though, she’s practically made of good intentions.”

I double checked that I was keeping pace with her right, before responding. “It’s not that. I’m just taking in the sights of the city, that’s all.” I paused for a second, before continuing. “What’s with all the tattoos, anyway? Is it some form of identification?”

I got another weird look from her, before it softened up, followed by a response. “They’re called Cutie Marks, and while they are used for legal identification, they really just represent the special talent of a pony, and magically appear once they’ve figured out what said talent is. Is your amnesia really that bad?”

That clarified the tattoo deal a little bit, but left me with more questions than before. I’ll ask them later. “Seeing as I entirely forgot the feeling of magic, can’t read earth script, can’t explain where I learned to write like I did from, and had to figure out what my name was entirely through context, I’m not surprised that I can’t recall what a cutie mark is either.”

I could have sworn I heard Fresh do a spit take, but I looked for any sign of a beverage on her or anything nearby, to find nothing. “You… you had to figure out your own NAME, with… with HINTS!?” she was visibly freaking out now, much to my confusion. Did I cause a mood swing? “This is much more serious than I thought, we gotta hurry. Report to the Princess, maybe she can fix you? Gotta hurry, gotta hurry.”

Fresh Bandage’s face was plastered with an odd mix of mortal fear and panic, before she turned and started galloping to our destination. After noticing I didn’t follow, mainly out of confusion, she stopped and started magicking one of my fore hooves up, and in her direction. And she pulled hard. I had to run, just to keep up with the pace of the pulling. Lucky for me, she was pulling both forwards and upwards on a forehoof, so I didn’t have to learn to gallop to keep up, since I could take my other foreleg up and just run bipedal.

Before long, the pulling got me caught up with Fresh, and I looked over to see the same fearful panic she had before. “What…?” was all I could manage to ask, as there wasn’t any coherent question I could think of to ask for this situation.

“No time. Get to Princess. Fix memory. Gotta hurry.” Was all the response that she would give me. Obviously she’s freaking out about finding a quick fix for memories I’m pretty sure I don’t have, and Princess Celestia was the one who could ‘fix’ it in her eyes. But why was she freaking out so mortally about it?

Realizing my position, I took my free forehoof and bonked her on the head with it,just enough to sting a bit. I’m not even sure she noticed it, though. I took my hoof back, and prepared to deliver another, slightly more powerful hit, before something caught her eyes, and she just… stopped. Let go of her magic, too, causing me to skid chest-first across the marble pavement.

I looked up to the general area that Fresh… and now the rest of the pony crowd were staring at, to find… a rainbow.

It was plain as day, this wasn’t just any old rainbow. It was a full circle, and it was rapidly expanding. If it reminded me of anything, it would have to be the dust cloud backlash wind thing that happens around a nuclear detonation. I couldn’t help blink in a double-take of wonder.

Blinking was apparently not the right thing to do, because a blink was apparently all it took to completely change your environment around here. I mean, for real, I just blinked, and now there was this… this endless gray that filled my vision. The crowd was gone, the nuclear rainbow thing was gone, I almost felt like I was gone, before I checked to make sure I still existed.

“State your name, being of chaos.” I heard. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but the ungendered voice was definitely deep, and sounded powerful. Kind of like near the final scene of The Wizard of Oz, with the hologram and smoke.

I tried to think of my name. I came up blank, other than Sunset Shimmer. I guess I really am getting amnesia then, huh? “I went by a different name a few days ago, but all I can remember now is Sunset Shimmer.” I stated, surprising myself with my calmness.

“Sunset Shimmer, hmm? State your intentions, being of chaos.” It sounded interested, but at the same time angered.

“Well, I’m not sure. I kind of want to go home, but I have a gut feeling that I died there, with the beam to the face and all.Well, maybe I’m not dead, but I’ll still have to figure out ho-” My ramble was cut short by the boom of the odd voice. Why am I so calm?

“And if you cannot return?” The voice was angered, as if I stabbed a kitten or something. I couldn’t figure out why, for the life of me, it was mad, yet I remained so obsessively calm. I should feel frightened just by the thought of my emotions feeling muted like this, but, well, you know.

“I will attempt to bring back the original Sunset Shimmer, if she didn’t die in the accident that caused me to get absorbed into her body.” I can’t believe my mouth. I’m pretty sure she died, from what I saw and felt of that impact.

“Sunset Shimmer, the one you are referring to, is, in fact, dead. She betrayed all that is harmony and became a being of chaos in search of power. We denied her life as a result. We did not expect another being of chaos to rise in her body. State your intentions, with this new knowledge.” I suppose that will save me time and trouble. Still sounds like I stabbed his cat, though.

“I’m not sure of what I want to do. It’s not like I want power or anything all that much. I think I might try to take over the late Sunset’s life, and learn magic under her tutor. During and after that, I might take a shot at advancing Equestria’s non-magical technology. Perhaps I cou-”

The voice cut me off again, but this time it sounded rather relieved, rather than angry. “That is all I need to know. I merely needed to ensure your goodwill, to judge your effect on the future of Equus. You may return to your friend now, though you may find yourself far closer to your destination than you were.”

If my emotions weren’t so muted, I guarantee I would feel some immense relief. “Goodbye, then, I suppose.”

“We shall meet again soon.”

I jerked up, as I felt all of my regular emotions return to me in a gigantic rush, while simultaneously feeling an ungraceful “Eep!” escape my throat.

I must have surprised someone, because I felt shuddering under me, as well as heard a small scream. Was I on somebody’s back?

My vision faded back in to a view that matched up with the summary of my thoughts, as I found myself perched on the back of a certain Fresh Bandage, with her neck twisted around to face me with comical anger. For some reason I found it slightly funny, and responded with a small chuckle, followed by an unsuspectingly loud snort! The comical anger did not part her face though, as she continued to bore her eyes through me.

“I carried you all the way here, in a very embarrassing position to carry an adult pony mind you, just because you fell asleep to an unexpected phenomenon, just for you to wake up, SCARE me, then LAUGH AT ME?” Geez, she was peeved. Not much I can do about it, though I wish I could.

“Sounds about right!” I chirped.

“Get off. We’re almost to the throne room.”

I finally decided to take in my surroundings, and confirmed that we were indoors. In a long hallway, with Stained glass windows. At the end, there was a giant set of double doors. Probably to the throne room.

So I stayed put, and opted to hug her from my position, with a smug grin.

“UGH!” I should do this more often.

Comments

[Snowfyre]

I'm enjoying this so far, and i see you are taking the challenge to add a chapter daily. i look forward to more and wish you good luck in the endeaver of these rapid updates

[Memz]

7804310 Thank you.
I've taken the challenge to write daily, because this has turned out to be very easy and fun for me to write so far, piled onto the fact that I have... buttloads of free time right now. Sometimes I have to sit and think about how a character would react to another character's actions, if the character reacting is not the main character, but that's really the biggest trouble I've had with it. I mean, I've managed to establish the characters introduced so far in my mind, if not on the words. Here we have what I imagine of both hospital chaeacters to be:
Fresh Bandage: White furred, tan mane/tail unicorn, crossed bandages cutie mark, sometimes percieved by the public as actual bandages, skmetimes causing problems. Socially unpreparing, therefore easy to embarrass (she embarrassed herself out of the room on introductions for christ' sake), but will take initiative in a heartbeat (Like carry a... 'sleeping' mare in a compromising position just to get to their destination, or the sedative needle in Chapter one).
Quick Fix: Pale pink Pegasus, light red mane, Team Fortress 2 health cupcake cutie mark, fairly obvious source of inspiration (I was thinking on the fly for that character design, don't expect much originality). Bubbly personality, similar to canon Pinkie Pie, but without the parties, world-bending power, or intensity. Gets bored at work sometimes, but loves her job regardless, because she can help patients recover faster, and in the rare case of extreme trauma, recover at all.
Sorry if you saw this comment before it was completed, my keyboard crashed while I was typing (on my phone) and I pressed the post button. I hate the keyboard crashing with a passion, I really do.